Book IV. 



COMMERCIAL GARDENS. 



1033 



feet below the level of the general surface of the garden (10) ; the sides of this excavation are planted 

 with marsh trees and shrubs. The next divisions consist of florists' flowers arranged according to their 

 colors and times of flowering (11) ; medicinal plants (12) ; Olustrations of the operations of agriculture 

 on plants, as the different kinds of hedges, live fences, rows, &c. (13) ; all the sorts of fruit-trees, vines, 

 and fruit-shrubs, which grow in the open air in France, with different modes of pruning and training 

 them (14) ; all the sorts of vegetables used in rural economy throughout Europe, the more tender sorts, 

 as the convolvulus battatas, being protected early in the season by glass (15). The general arrangement 

 of all the plants grown in France, tender and hardy, occupies ten plots (16) ; the classification adopted 

 is that of Jussieu. The tender species are brought from the hot-houses in June, and plunged in their 

 places in the beds, where they remain till September ; the hardy tree and shrub kinds are kept dwarf 

 by priming, and brought into flower by ringing. The different sorts of annual plants, and the mode of 

 raising seeds of every kind, is displayed in a large plot (18). There is a general arboretum (17) ; one of 

 winter or evergreen trees (19) ; of trees in perfection in autumn (20) ; of summer trees (21) ; and of spring trees. 



7333. The principal buildings are the menagerie for ferocious animals (22) ; the conservatory (23) j 

 museum (24) ; lodge for East India deer (25) ; lecture-theatre (26) ; near which is situated the office of 

 administration for the garden; retreat for buffaloes (27) ; stable :for the equus tribe, with pigeon-house 

 over (28) ; Merino and other sheep-cots (29) ; cot for goats (30), for camels (31), for elephants (36), for 

 foreign oxen (37), for red deer (39), for the dromedary (40), for packing plants (41), and for a public coffee 

 and milk house, situated at the base of the mount (38). There is a restaurateur in the spring arbore- 

 tum (21), also a number of other buildings of less note ; and so complete is this establishment, that in some 

 of the areas destined to show certain branches of culture, there are lodges containing specimens of all 

 the implements in use in that branch. (^Annates du Musee ; Bayer's Descriptive History of the Paris 

 Garden.) 



73,34. In the office of ad?ninistration, which is remarkably complete, is the botanical cabinet (fig. 735.), 

 thus described in the Horticultural Tour :. "In the staircase {a) is preserved 735 

 a tall palm-stem from South America, which had been naturally clasped in a 

 very extraordinary way by some liane or twining shrub, and evidently strangled 

 by the deeply indented grasp of its invader. Professor Desfontaines' working- 

 room (fi) adjoins, and next, the working-room for the professor's assistants (c). 

 Here a respectable-looking female was now employed in fixing dried specimens of 

 plants to sheets of white paper, after they had been arranged for that purpose by 

 Professor Desfontaines. There is a room {d) appropriated to the keeping of the 

 specimens of dried plants. They are contained in close presses, and so accurately 

 and conveniently arranged, that the specimens composing any particular genus 

 can be produced for examination the moment they are called for. Another [e) contains specimens of 

 wood of very many species of trees, we believe of almost all that are figured in the quarto volume pub- 

 lished by Sepp of Amsterdam, and edited by Dr. Houttayn, and of many unknown to these laborious 

 Dutchmen. The samples are in general smoothed with the plane, the better to display the grain, and 

 the extreme beauty of some kinds. A vase, nicely formed out of the stem of a date-palm, is a curious 

 object : it is about a foot and a half in diameter, and somewhat more in height. A large apartment (/), 

 extending tlie whole breadth of the building, contains the seeds and seed-vessels of plants, with speci- 

 mens of vegetable products in general. In the same room several commodious presses and drawers are 

 appropriated to the reception of the seeds saved in the garden from the more rare or tender plants, par- 

 ticularly those of only annual duration. We may add, that the great attention paid to this part of the 

 business of the garden, the saving of seeds, and keeping them in the nicest order, received our unquali- 

 fied approbation. A glazed frame containing numerous skeletons of leaves and flowers, had a very 

 pretty and unusual effect. Fronds of the great umbrella-palm of Ceylon (Corypha umbraculifera) deco- 

 rate the ceilings of two of the rooms." {Hort. Tour, 353.) 



SuBSECT. 3. Commercial Gardens. 



733.5. Public nurseiy-gardens come first in order. In choosing a situation in which to es- 

 tablish a nursery, two points are to be considered, fitness as to the disposal of the produce, 

 and fitness as to shelter, aspect, and soil. Where it is intended to attempt a general nur- 

 sery business, regard must be had to the leading roads of the district, the means of carriage 

 by land or water, the kind of objects that will be most in demand, whether seedlings, fruit- 

 trees, or tender exotics, or all of these. Where a local business is to be commenced, it is 

 evident much will depend on the choice of a conspicuous situation in some line of road 

 of general resort, and as near as possible to some town or city. As far as respects shel- 

 ter, aspect, and soil, the remarks already submitted in reference to private nurseries 

 (6974. J may suffice. The best general soil is evidently a free tender loam ; and the 

 best general aspect or exposure, one inclining to the north ; as precocity is no advantage 

 in a nursery, but the contrary, and all seedlings and tender plants will be the safer 

 till they come up, and come up more vigorously, when brought on not so much by the 

 direct rays of the sun as by his indirect influence on the atmosphere. Another great 

 advantage of a northern exposure is, that plants and trees may be taken up, as w^ell as 

 planted, later in the season, than in one of a contrary nature. Grafting also, and making 

 good deficiencies and other nursery-operations, which are generally deferred to the last 

 moment, may be done with less injury to the trees and plants. 



7336. The extent of a nursery must depend on the means of the occupier, and the pro- 

 bable extent of market. It will also depend, in some degree, on the kind of articles to 

 be chiefly cultivated, and the mode of cultivation to be pursued. Where manure is 

 scarce, such a system of alternate nursery and market-garden crops must be adopted as 

 shall preserve the ground in heart ; but where manure is more abundant the severe crops 

 may succeed one another more closely. Where thorns and seedling forest-trees are to be 

 the chief articles grown, it is evident less ground will be required than when transplanted 

 forest-trees are to be the chief article produced. 



7337. In laying out a nursery, the objects to be cultivated, and the kind of business to 

 be expected, must be leading guides in the design, and the duration of the tenure will 

 naturally have a material influence on the execution. The following seem objects de- 

 sirable for a complete nursery : 



